Sutton Cellar's Merlot
…and I am willing to venture a guess that you haven’t….still. Yes, even 5 years after one line in Sideways maligned the grape, Merlot sales are still lagging (up 2% in 2008 in comparison to Pinot Noir’s 16%). I’m not gonna lie – I had not purchased a bottle of Merlot in years until a couple of months ago. I bought another one the other evening and I’m here to say you should too.
Let me first say, I certainly do not consider myself a wine connoisseur nor do I have a palate that is distinctly defined. I do enjoy it though and drink enough to have some sort of an informed opinion – nothing beyond that though! Anyways, onto to the Merlot grape and the bottles I purchased. The first bottle I purchased because it was from one of my favorite producers, Sutton Cellars. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Carl Sutton, like a few of my friends, but apparently he is quite an interesting guy…..and he makes fantastic wine. So, when I saw this Sonoma County bottle by him, I grabbed it. I was pleasantly surprised.
Paso Creek's Merlot
I hadn’t had a Merlot in a long time and thoroughly enjoyed the bottle. Unfortunately, it was some time ago and I can’t give you a description of it, but I do remember enjoying it a lot. The second Merlot was by Paso Creek, which is a producer I had not heard of before. They are located in Paso Robles, which is part of the central coast wine growing region of California and is the southern most region. It was definitely a BIG wine and had a plummy taste/smell to it that Merlot’s are known for. This bottle reminded me a lot of a Cabernet Sauvignon, which isn’t surprising because the two are blended often. I wasn’t eating a red meat at the time, but it would have gone very well with it. Both of these bottles were around $14 range, which is a target price for me – I think you can find a lot of value in the $13 – $17 price range. So there it is – my recent experiences with Merlot and I’m happy to say they’ve been good ones. Next time you see a bottle – pick it up – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Also, for fun – check out Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk’s episode on this topic.
